Antipsychotic drugs are used for treating not only schizophrenia but also troublesome behaviors (for example, aggression, mental excitation, fugue, delirium) accompanying cerebrovascular disorders and senile dementia. However, there is a serious problem that these classical antipsychotic drugs cause extrapyramidal disorders as a side effect. In order to solve this problem, approaches have been made in recent years to develop antipsychotic drugs from a viewpoint which is completely different from the action mechanism of the classical drugs. As an example of these approaches, a sigma receptor antagonist may be cited. It is considered that sigma receptor is a receptor participating in mental abnormality such as hallucination. A compound having a specific affinity for this receptor would exhibit an antipsychotic action without causing any extrapyramidal disorders.
Although Rimcazole is known as an example of such a compound, its affinity and specificity for sigma receptor are restricted.
There have been known some compounds, for example, N,N-dimethyl-2-(3-benzyloxy-4-methoxy-phenyl)ethylamine described in J. C. S. Perkin I, (1975), page 1140, which are similar to the compound of the present invention in structure. However, these compounds are described merely as a synthesis intermediate. Thus the action of the compound of the present invention has never been reported hitherto.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel compound which has an antipsychotic action without causing any extrapyramidal disorders.